Wireless devices, such as wireless telephones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) provide a great opportunity for person-to-person communication, out-of-office productivity, and personal safety. Most developed and developing areas of the globe include a communication network that enables the use of wireless telephones, PDAs with wireless communication functionality, and/or wireless telephones with PDA functionality.
A wireless device is typically carried by a user at all times during the day, and frequently near the user at night (e.g., on a night-table and/or bed stand). However, sometimes the wireless device becomes separated from the user's possession, either by choice or by accident. For example, a user may know that their wireless device is ineffective or not permitted in various locations, such as commercial airplanes, hospitals, nursing homes, movie theatres, etc. As such, the user may choose to leave the wireless device at home, in a car, in the office, and/or in the luggage and retrieve it later. Alternatively, the user may simply forget that the wireless device was left at home, in the car, in the office, and/or in the luggage, at which time the user decides the wireless device is needed. Worse still, the user may have lost the wireless device, accidentally destroyed the wireless device, or the wireless device may have been stolen. Regardless of the cause of separation, the wireless device is no longer available for use and, if not destroyed, subject to fraudulent use by a thief.
A user that has lost, misplaced, forgotten, or destroyed a wireless device must typically rely on a wireless communication service provider to cancel and deactivate that device. If the user owns an alternate wireless device, such as an inactive older model, the wireless communication service provider may refuse to simply assign the user's account to the alternate device. As a result, the user may be effectively forced into purchasing an alternate wireless device to access services for which they have an active contract. The pressure to purchase another wireless device is particularly evident in view of the strict contractual obligations of the user to the wireless communication service provider, which typically last from one to two years and include an expensive early termination fee. On the other hand, even if the wireless communication service provider permits the alternate wireless device to be associated with the user's account, such an association may be dependent upon a significant service charge.
Regardless of the user's choice, after a wireless communication device has been lost, misplaced, forgotten, destroyed, or stolen, the wireless communication service provider typically assists the user with a remedy. Such reliance upon the wireless communication service provider renders the user at a further disadvantage due to typically long hold-times and/or limited hours of customer service operation. By the time the user finally reaches a customer service representative, much time has elapsed and, particularly in the case of a stolen wireless device, many hundreds of dollars in fraudulent wireless services may have been used.